Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution Digital FIEld Worker
2 Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution
Digital technologies hold tremendous promise for transmission and distribution organizations looking to improve the management of resources, costs and the safety and productivity of their field workforce. By moving to a digital workforce, utilities can use new technologies to turn insight into action and produce outcomes not previously achievable. Organizations in the transmission and distribution (T&D) sector are under intense pressure to improve their financial performance. At the same time, they must meet their obligations to customers, as well as their regulatory commitments to reduce risk and improve safety. In this complex environment, the ability to wisely and effectively manage capital and operations and maintenance (O&M) costs has never been more important. Given the high costs associated with field labor, optimizing worker efficiency and productivity has become an absolute imperative. Opportunities in the digital age Most T&D organizations need to achieve more with less and serve more customers without having the ability to grow their workforce. Digital solutions present real opportunities for T&D organizations to achieve these goals, while reducing costs and increasing the productivity of their field personnel. For example: Mobile technologies can improve workforce performance by providing workers access to relevant information whenever and wherever they need it. Digitally enabled visualization tools can reveal locations of crews and assets in real time, allowing for optimized routing and quicker customer response. Advanced analytics can provide insights that improve resource management and field force utilization. As digital solutions become more mature and as digital transforms work in other industries, T&D organizations adopting these capabilities will improve operational performance dramatically and outperform industry peers. Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution 3
Productivity improvements across the work life cycle Digital technologies and analytics can be applied in an integrated manner across the T&D field work life cycle, creating a better experience for employees and customers: From two to 18 months prior to work. During planning phases, employees can use field force analytics and digitally enabled planning tools to better understand future resource and work requirements, develop estimates, identify customers to be affected, and accurately manage resource supply and demand. From one day to two months prior to work. Schedulers can apply field force analytics and digital dashboards to manage resource availability; make assignments that improve crew safety, utilization and efficiency; and manage project prerequisites and change orders to confirm work progress and desired start dates are maintained. From the day work starts to work completion. On the day(s) of the scheduled work, dispatchers can use digital tools to track work progress and visualization tools to optimize crew routes. Digital devices can provide crews with all the information they need to perform their jobs safely and efficiently. Post project. Digital solutions enable back-office resources to automatically capture, review and integrate work data, including the materials, labor and time required to maintain the asset. Analytics can help determine root causes of problems and make future work more efficient and predictable. The end-to-end digital enablement described here focuses on planned work projects. Importantly, digital solutions can also assist in the management of unplanned work. For example, social media offers consumers a convenient way to communicate with utilities during an outage. Analytics can help resource managers predict the number and type of resources that might be needed during a major storm event. These solutions can also help confirm that crews from other areas are incorporated into the utility s resource pool during emergency situations. 4 Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution
T&D FIELD WORK LIFE CYCLE CONDUCT WORK PLANNING CONDUCT RESOURCE PLANNING SCHEDULE WORK, MANAGE CONSTRAINTS EXECUTE WORK CUSTOMER REVIEW & WORK CLOSURE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Impacted customers are notified via their preferred digital channel or through targeted postal and telephone campaigns. Vulnerable customers are also identified in advance so the utility can work with them to minimize impact. Customers offered temporary generator if needed during the work (charged) and vulnerable customers have temporary generator arranged for them (no charge). Customers are notified upon completion and asked to provide feedback via their preferred channel. EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE The work planning team is the single collation point for all planned work, including capital, replacement and connections. Bundling opportunities based on work type, geography and time are immediately identified for work planners to optimize delivery schedule. The work planning team can immediately assign a work plan to teams/ individuals based on real-time work schedules. Provisional delivery schedule is created/sent to field staff. Work scope is clearly defined for field engineer/project manager including delivery schedule, expected costs, etc. Delivery schedule is created/sent to field staff. The work planning team reviews and accepts the schedule. All work is delivered on time/to cost with all data, including photos captured on site. Project managers/field engineers are incented on the quality of customer service they provide. DIGITAL ENABLERS Single planning tool integrates internally and externally planned work and estimates for reactive work. Planned work is overlaid onto a GIS tool to identify customers impacted. Integrated resource management matches the appropriate resource to the proposed delivery schedule. Work is automatically/provisionally scheduled to optimize work delivery based on productivity, skills, work location, etc. Work reporting aligns to the regulatory template, making reporting quicker/easier. Mobility tool enables all commissioning and work data, including photos, to be captured and uploaded to asset register. Feedback is analyzed and is incorporated into processes and systems. Figure 1. Digital solutions applied to planned electric distribution work. Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution 5
Digital processes, tangible benefits Digital solutions can help T&D organizations optimize their endto-end flow of field work, improve utilization and productivity, and help confirm their ability to continually meet their customer and regulatory commitments. The tangible value of these solutions can be significant. Accenture s research and experience suggest that T&D organizations that adopt mobile, cloud, analytics and social field work capabilities are likely to: Add 1 to 1.5 productive hours to each field worker s day, boosting their productivity by 10 to 25 percent. Improve planner productivity by up to 10 to 25 percent. Increase supervisor time in the field by 10 to 40 percent. Reduce the amount of time spent on clerical or back-office processes by 25 to 75 percent. 6 Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution
Going digital Digital solutions do not simply enable T&D organizations to work faster. They help the organizations work smarter by eliminating obstacles, freeing up resources to conduct their work more effectively, and providing relevant information to proactively support the physical work processes. Before going digital, T&D leaders need to examine the digital solutions at their disposal, as well as the feasibility of incorporating those solutions into their operations. It is especially important to engage the workers who will be affected by a transition to a digitized way of working. Having these individuals involved in developing the digital strategy, designing new processes and testing the final solution is a critical component to gaining the organizational buy-in that is needed to achieve the desired results. Enabling a Digital Workforce in Transmission & Distribution 7
About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 289,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com. Copyright 2014 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.